Devils Power Play Excelling of Late | BLOG

The Devils power play has been on fire as of late. The team has scored a man-advantage goal in five straight contests and has nine power-play goals in the past 12 games.
"We've been pretty hard on pucks and funneling pucks to the net," said forward Jack Hughes, who has seven power-play points on the year. "We like where we're at and we're playing with confidence. That's a huge thing for us."
The team has made a number of adjustments to the unit since the beginning of the year, which saw the club struggle at the outset. However, two biggest factors in the team's recent success has been the return of Jack Hughes from injury and the placement of Nathan Bastian as the club's net-front presence.
"(Bastian) has been a valuable took and Jack's been back in and healthy," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "Those are the two things that have changed. The pieces have moved around. Some guys are off, but the two things heavily involved in the success are those two guys."

Bastian, who stands at 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, has been a big body at the crease. He's taken away the eyesight of goaltenders while also tipping in a pair of goals.
"I'm familiar with playing (net-front)," Bastian said. "It's almost easier to step in at this level with those kinds of players around me. I get to the net, just stand there and when there's a chance to retrieve a puck I do my best to go get it back."
The Devils power play didn't have success in the early part of the season. Part of that may be due to Hughes missing 17 games with a shoulder injury. The coaching staff - including Mark Recchi and Chris Taylor - have worked diligently to correct the course.
"Since Day 1 it's something that we worked on a lot together," Ruff said. "Whether it's Mark, Chris, myself, we've put a lot of effort into trying to get it to go in the right direction. There was a period of time where we had a lot of opportunities and didn't finish. Now we're finishing."